


Coffee, Tea, or Me?

by Anonymous



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Geno definitely doesn't mind teaching him, Language shenanigans, Lots of Russian, M/M, Meet-Cute, Sidney's trying to learn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-19
Updated: 2017-08-19
Packaged: 2018-12-17 04:46:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,741
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11844225
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Sidney doesn’t understand a word the first time Geno talks to him, but later, he finds out Geno was actually hitting on him.It’s 2005, and Geno still had to run away from the KHL, but he did it early this time. Just in time to be there for Sidney’s rookie year.





	Coffee, Tea, or Me?

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah…I know I got a lot of the details WAY off but…I know zero things about anything so I’m sorry if this is totally wrong.
> 
> Yes, there is Russian in this story, but I didn’t translate it word for word this time because Sidney has no clue what Geno’s saying anyway, and it’s not that important until the end of the story. (If you can read it and the grammar sucks, I’m sorry! I’m still learning. Feel free to help me with grammar if you’d like). :)
> 
> Also: There are a couple French phrases in here too. And I’m sorry, I speak like…zero French? Well…duolingo says I’m 7% fluent but that sounds fake tbh so I’m sorry if the French sucks too. Feel free to give me pointers, though! I’m a language nerd who’s always up for a grammar lesson. :)

-2005-

Sidney sighed as he looked up from his book to check the time. 7:30. His plane was due to leave shortly. He closed his book and shifted slightly, the contents of the Russian history book in his lap still churning through his head. He took a breath and looked at his surroundings to ground himself again. The morning light streaming through the windows at the Montréal Dorval Airport was starting to get too bright, and a very tired-looking person about Sid’s own age—who was sitting next to him wearing sunglasses and a low-tipped baseball cap—seemed very unhappy with that fact.

Sid stowed his history book just as boarding group one was called up to the gate. As usual, he was boarding group three, so he wouldn’t have to get up for a few more minutes, but it never hurt to be prepared. The tired guy next to him had barely budged more than to acknowledge that Sidney had looked at him. If he hadn’t done that, Sid might have wondered if he was asleep under his sunglasses.

Finally, his boarding group was called up, and Sidney went to wait in the uncomfortably long line by the gate. Someone accidentally brushed against him, suddenly, and he glanced back, noticing that the tired-looking guy was right behind him. The guy muttered something that sounded like an apology, but it didn’t sound French. Sid quietly told him it was ok in Quebecois anyway, out of habit. It wasn’t like it mattered too much anyway.

After what seemed like 30 minutes, Sidney finally handed the woman at the gate his passport and boarding pass, and as she handed back his documents, she smiled at him and wished him a good flight in French. He thanked her and walked down the long hallway towards the plane.

Once aboard, he quickly found his seat and settled in. He was in the window seat this time…not something he was  _too_ keen on, but he  _could_ just shut the widow and read a book. He was about to grab a magazine, but he looked up and noticed the tired-looking guy who had been sitting next to him at the gate, looking at his ticket and then at the seat designation on the overhead bins. Now that he had taken off his glasses, Sid could see in his eyes that he was a little uncomfortable, but he sat down in the middle seat anyway, right next to Sidney. He kept glancing at the window as he stowed his backpack and put on his seatbelt. Sidney cleared his throat.

“ _Excusez moi,_ ” Sidney asked politely. “ _Voulez-vous asseoir ici?_ ”

The man just looked at him, a confused but interested expression on his face. Sidney tried again in English.

“Would you…like to sit here?” He pointed at his seat.

The man still looked confused and said something in what Sidney was almost positive was Russian.

“ _Э_ … _Извините, я не хорошо понимаю английский…_ ”

Sidney had no clue what he just said…too bad he hadn’t taken that Russian class like he’d wanted to in High school. But he tried again anyway.

“Uh, you want to…um…trade?” Sidney said slowly, pointing at the guy and then at his own chair. “Like…you sit here?”

“Trade!” The guy repeated in his thick Russian accent, nodding. “Yes!  _Я посижу сюда…_ ” He pointed at himself and then at Sidney’s seat. “Okay?”

“Yeah! Okay!” Sidney said, unbuckling his seatbelt, grabbing his backpack from under the seat in front of him and standing up (as much as he could under the overhead bins). The guy stepped out into the aisle and they switched places. When they settled back in, the guy looked much more content, though he still looked tired. Sidney was glad to help a little at least. He stuck his hand out for the guy to shake.

“I’m Sidney,” he said slowly. The guy took his hand.

“Sidney?” he repeated, as if asking for confirmation on his pronunciation. When Sidney smiled and nodded, he smiled.

“Evgeni,” he said. His smile seemed to cover his entire face, and it was such a bright smile that Sid couldn’t help smiling back.

“ _Очень приятно_ ,” the guy—Evgeni—said, and Sidney guessed from context that it must mean “nice to meet you”, but he just nodded and smiled, just in case he was wrong.

That was the extent of their interaction while they were on the ground.

  


Before they took off, Sidney couldn’t help noticing how Evgeni kept glancing nervously up at the entrance every time a new person walked on. Sidney figured it wasn’t his place to even wonder why he was doing it, so he put in his headphones and put on some AC/DC to block out the thoughts. He was certainly not paying enough attention to notice how Evgeni seemed to calm down a lot as soon as they were in the air, taking off his hat and settling in more…okay, maybe he was. That didn’t change the fact that it was none of his business.

He shook the thought out of his head and reached in his backpack for a book. This time, he pulled out a book about the tanks used during world war one. He got so engrossed in it, in fact, that he jumped a little when he felt someone nudge his shoulder.

“Ey, Sidney!”

He only heard Evgeni once he’d yanked out an earbud.

“Huh?”

“ _Чай? Кофе?_ ” Evgeni thought for a second and smirked, raising his brows at Sidney. “ _Потанцуем?_ ”

Sidney laughed a little, extremely confused. “Sorry, w-what?”

“ _Чай? Кофе? Потанцуем?_ ” Evgeni repeated himself, laughed, and pointed past him to the aisle.

Sidney looked to where Evgeni was pointing and noticed he was referring to the fact that the snack cart was there. Ohh, okay…that made sense. He  _thought_ he’d heard Evgeni say ‘coffee’.

“Oh! Uh,  _un verre de l'eau, s'il vous plaît_ ,” Sidney said to the flght attendant in rushed French.

“ _Voila_ ,  _monsieur_ ,” the flight attendent said, handing him a water.

“ _Merci_ ,” Sidney thanked her.

The flight attendant turned and asked Evgeni in French if he wanted anything, and it was obvious that Evgeni only understood her through contextual cues.

“Uhh…coka-cola?” Evgeni asked.

The flight attendant definitely understood ‘coka-cola’ and handed him a cup with ice and the whole can.

“ _Спасибо_ ,” Evgeni said, then added “Uhh,  _merci_ ,” in his thick accent, glancing at Sidney. For some reason, it made Sidney want to smile.

“ _De rien_!” The flight attendant answered him, smiling, then moved on to serve the people in the row behind them.

Sidney took a sip of his water and watched Evgeni pour himself a cup of coke. Evgeni was aware that he was being watched and simply smiled at his audience. He looked like he wanted to say something, but didn’t know how. He kept glancing over at Sidney, as if to make sure he was still watching.

Finally, he nodded at Sidney and simply said,

“Uh, like…hockey?”

Sidney smiled warmly at him.

“Yeah! I play hockey!”

Evgeni’s eyes lit up.

“Play hockey?”

Sidney nodded. “Yeah!”

Evgeni poked himself in the chest a few times as he thought of the right words. “I’m…p-play hockey!”

“Really? That’s great!” Sidney said. Now he really wished he’d taken that Russian class. He had so many questions.

“Uhh…M–Russia…” Evgeni said, searching very hard for words. “Uhh…Good hockey.”

Sidney laughed. “Yeah!” He wasn’t sure how to respond, but he was happy to be talking to this guy anyway. “Very good!”

“Canada…” Evgeni said, making a ‘kinda’ gesture with his hands, then dropping his hand, smiling and continuing with, “Okay. Canada…good hockey.” He laughed.

Sidney laughed with him. “Hey, c'mon! Canada’s great at hockey! Canada  _invented_ hockey!”

Evgeni smiled at Sidney, but it was obvious he didn’t understand what Sidney had just said. In fact, Evgeni looked a bit exhausted from trying to understand and speak so much English. Suddenly, he just blurted out something in fast Russian.

“ _Ясно, что ты не понимаешь меня_ _, но…ты интересуешь меня, потому что_ _…думаю что, я где-то видел тебя раньше,_ _поэтому… Я хочу узнать, где ты раньше играл, на каких командах и на каких позициях, и_ _как ты играешь теперь…_ _У меня так много вопросов…_ ”

Sid just smiled at him, looking hopelessly lost.

“I’m sorry…I didn’t…I didn’t catch—”

“ _Всё.._ okay…” Evgeni said, looking a little crestfallen, but still smiling.

They both fell silent for a while, but every time one would glance at the other, they would smile at each other. Sidney, for some reason, felt drawn to this guy. For the first time in his life, he almost felt like he was dying of curiosity. It had to be because of the language barrier…

“I should really learn Russian,” he blurted suddenly.

Evgeni’s interest was piqued.

“You learn…Russian?” He smiled widely at Sid.

“I… _want_ to,” Sidney said, almost feeling embarrassed that he’d said it out loud.

“I’m…learn English,” Evgeni said, pointing at himself and then at Sidney. “You…learn Russian!”

“O-ok!” Sidney smiled at Evgeni, who was smiling back at him with one of the brightest smiles he’d ever seen on a human face. Evgeni almost looked like a completely different person than that tired guy who had been hiding behind his sunglasses in the Dorval airport that morning.

Just then, the airline captain announced that they were on their final descent into Pittsburgh and asked everyone to put their seats and trays in the upright position.

“Ey, Sidney,” Evgeni said, grabbing a napkin and making a writing gesture with his hands. “Uh… _У тебя ручка? Ручка?_ ”

“Oh, uhm…yeah…”

That was easy enough to understand. Sidney dug around in his backpack and found a pen, handing it to Evgeni.

“Email,” Evgeni said as he scribbled it down. “Nomer.  _Напиши мне, ладно?_ ”

“Oh! Thanks!” Sidney said, honestly surprised at the gesture. He took the pen and the napkin from Evgeni and tore off half of the napkin.

“My email and phone number,” he said as he wrote. “Here.”

Evgeni smiled at him. “ _Спасибо_!”

Sidney knew that meant ‘thank you’, but he didn’t know how to respond in Russian, so he just gave a thumbs up. Evgeni laughed and mirrored the gesture, then tucked his half of the napkin into his backpack.

  


As they got off the plane and walked into the airport, the two of them went off in search of customs. Sidney was through with his passport check before Evgeni, and as he watched Evgeni nervously walk over to the long queue by himself, he felt a twinge of guilt for leaving him behind. It was certainly a misplaced feeling, since Sidney definitely wasn’t responsible for this man, but…he still felt like he’d left behind a friend. He felt a lot better when Evgeni caught his eye from the end of the line and smiled with his whole face again. Sidney couldn’t help smiling back at him. The queue was so long, they had several chances to do this.

Every once in a while, Sidney would lose sight of the tall Russian, but then the queue would inevitably move again, and there would be Evgeni, smiling and waving hi to Sidney. Sidney was laughing by the time he neared the end of the line, because with each pass, Evgeni seemed more and more excited to see him. When they were next to each other, Evgeni would say 'Hi’ and spout a bunch of fast Russian at him, then sheepishly say,

“ _Простите._  English…not…good.”

And Sidney would assure him it was ok, and the line would inevitably move along. The last time they met next to each other in the line, Evgeni had a funny look on his face, like he was contemplating saying something. Then he just shook his head and said it anyway.

“Ey, Sidney,  _не хочешь…встречаться со мной?_ ”

Evgeni’s face was a bit flushed and he was looking at Sidney with an expression that was honestly as hard for Sid to understand as the words he’d said.

“Sorry…I-I…?” Sidney looked lost, but he was smiling anyway.

“ _Чай? Кофе? Потанцуем?_ ” Evgeni said, wearing that same smirk he’d had on the plane, even though he knew the sentiment would be lost on Sidney.

Sidney remembered him saying something like that with that specific smirk, but this time, there weren’t any snack carts around…coffee? Did he want coffee? But what if that wasn’t what he said? Sid would be embarrassed if he’d heard wrong. He shook his head, looking apologetically confused.

“Um…sorry….What?”

“ _Всё_ okay…” Evgeni said, looking only a little disappointed. “ _Скоро всё поймёшь_. You…learn.”

“Ok, I’ll learn,” Sidney said, making it sound like a promise. Evgeni seemed to pick up on that, because his entire demeanour seemed to return to being warm and happy, and he smiled that bright smile again.

As he walked away from the line and towards the baggage claim, Sidney looked over his shoulder. He happened to catch Evgeni’s eye one last time before rounding a corner, and they exchanged a parting smile. Sidney felt a little sad when he lost sight of Evgeni. It was absurd, of course. He was just some guy Sid had met on the plane, but…it had been a while since he had clicked with someone that quickly. He smiled to himself, remembering his half of the napkin from the flight. At least he could email him later.

Sidney had no idea that he’d be seeing the happy-go-lucky Russian very soon.

—_/.\\_—

Sid was nervous when he approached Mario Lemieux’s front door. He wasn’t sure why, but it was fair to admit that meeting the people you were going to be living with for an indeterminate amount of time could be a little daunting.

When Nathalie Lemieux opened the door, Sid immediately felt underdressed and unprepared, but she smiled widely and stepped aside to let him by.

“Sidney! It is so good to meet you at last! Come in, please!”

Sidney smiled and nodded, walking past her into the large house. It was somehow more amazing than he had imagined.

“You must be exhausted,” Nathalie said, ushering him further into the house.

“Actually, I…I feel great! I just, uh, I think I need a shower…”

Nathalie laughed. “That’s understandable! Here, let me show you where you’ll be staying and you can get settled in a little…take a refreshing shower before dinner tonight, how’s that?”

Sidney agreed with her and she took him back towards the back of the house, introducing him on the way to two of her daughters, with whom he shared some awkward waves.

Nathalie showed him to the guest house in the back, and he couldn’t believe his eyes…it was like his very own little house, nearly lost in the Lemieux’s gigantic back yard.

  


Sidney was grateful when he turned on the hot water in the shower and let it run over him. It felt so nice. He wasn’t sure why, but as he washed up, his thoughts returned to Evgeni. Where had he heard that name before? The past few weeks had seemed like a blur, so at times, he wasn’t even sure what day it was. Still, hearing the name  _Evgeni_ felt a little like déjà vu. He shook the thought out of his mind, but it was soon replaced by another thought. He wondered how Evgeni was doing. Did he get to his destination ok? Why was he looking so nervous back in Montréal? Was he running away from someone?

Sidney shook the nonsense out of his head. For someone who might be running away from someone, Evgeni had seemed much too happy. Unless…maybe he was happy because he finally got away? Sidney shook his head again. It was all pointless speculation, not to mention none of his damn business! Besides, he needed to be getting ready for his first dinner with the Lemieux’s anyway.

When Sidney walked back into the main house, he was wearing a dark, decently well-tailored suit and Pittsburgh-gold tie. The Lemieux girls, who were all in jeans and t-shirts, laughed at him when they saw him, but Sidney felt leagues better in these clothes than he had in his clothes from the plane. Besides, he wanted to at least look nice. He felt justified in his choice when he saw that Mario was also in a suit.

Mario was in the sitting room, talking to someone that, after a few minutes of wracking his brain, Sidney recognised as Sergei Gonchar, one of his future teammates. A brief thought about asking Sergei if he could teach him some Russian passed by, but the thought of having to explain why he wanted to learn pushed the thought out of his mind. Maybe he’d get a book and dictionary instead.

There were a few other people there that Sidney didn’t recognise, but when Mario saw him, he beckoned him over and started introducing Sidney to everyone.

“And this is J Barry,” Mario was saying. “He’s Malkin’s agent.”

“That I am!” Barry said with a smile. “And don’t worry, Evgeni’s in the bathroom, but he’ll be out soon and then we can continue with the introductions.”

All at once, it clicked. Sidney’s eyes went wide as he remembered the name of the Penguins’ 2004 draft pick: Evgeni Malkin. The same Evgeni Malkin he’d played against during world juniors. He blinked, wondering why he hadn’t remembered the guy’s face. It had been plastered all over sports news for months, and he'd  _seen_ him face to face—even played against him, for goodness sake. To be fair, though, a lot had happened to him since then.

“Everything alright, Sidney?” Mario asked.

“Um, yeah! I…I just…” he trailed off, thinking. “Well, I think I already met him on the plane.”

“Oh, really?” Barry asked. “Then you must be the guy he was talking about on the car ride over here.”

For some reason, Sidney felt his ears start to burn.

“Oh, he was talking about me, eh?”

“Yeah, he said he’d met this guy on the plane who looked familiar to him, but he couldn’t remember from where. Said he was really nice…liked hockey. I didn’t catch a name, though.”

Sidney couldn’t stop himself from smiling.

Soon, Evgeni came walking down the hallway, looking absolutely awed by the grandeur of the house’s design. Then, a person standing in the sitting room next to his agent caught his eye, and his whole face lit up. He ran up to Sidney and surprised him with a hug.

“Sidney!  _Я думал, что я тебя узнал откуда-то! Ты_ Sidney Crosby!”

Sidney was a little daunted by it all, but he laughed as he hugged Evgeni back.

“Y-yeah, I’m Sidney Crosby…?” Sidney said, looking back at Barry a bit confused as Evgeni broke off the hug.

“He says he thought he recognised you from somewhere,” Gonchar said calmly from where he was leaning against the wall.

“Oh?” Sidney said. “They…know about me in Russia?”

Everybody but Evgeni laughed. Evgeni threw a confused look between Barry and Gonchar, who translated for him. _Then_ Evgeni laughed.

“ _Конечно знают о тебе в России!_ ”

“I don’t think they’ll soon forget how you played against them in world juniors, Sid,” Mario said.

Sidney’s cheeks were burning, but he was laughing too.

“No, I…I mean…I know…” he stammered. “Well, you know…I didn’t mean—”

“A lot has happened to you in the past few weeks, and today you’re jetlagged and probably very hungry,” Nathalie interrupted, valiantly coming to Sidney’s rescue. “So why don’t we all go sit down and eat?”

Everyone agreed and went into the dining room, where Evgeni made a point of sitting right next to Sidney and smiling at him throughout the entire dinner. It made Sidney a little uncomfortable, but only because he remembered how hard the Russian team took their loss at world juniours. It only felt wrong because Evgeni’s warm smile seemed so misplaced. But every time he caught Evgeni smiling at him, he would forget everything, and couldn’t help smiling back.

—_/.\\_—

After dinner, Mario took everyone on a tour of the house and the surrounding property. Sidney expected that Evgeni would hang back with Gonchar and Barry, but he was surprised when, every single time he looked, Evgeni was walking right there next to him. He didn’t seem to care that nearly none of the words Mario was saying made any sense to him. He was simply staring in awe at the things in the house, and then at the things in the yard, like they were extravagant exhibits at the Hermitage.

When Mario had shown everything off, everyone started to walk back towards the house for coffee and desert. Sidney hung back a bit, trying to process everything. This was his life now, and it all seemed so fast-paced. He knew he could keep up with it because this is what he’d wanted, ever since he’d been old enough to hold up a stick. But…he knew it was important to take some quiet moments for himself too…

He blinked, suddenly realising that he’d stopped in front of a tree and was staring at it intensely.

“ _Дерево_.”

He was startled a bit by the voice next to him and turned to see Evgeni standing next to him, looking like he was also contemplating the tree.

“Uh…what?”

“ _Дерево_ ,” Evgeni repeated, pointing at the tree.

It took Sidney a minute to realise that Evgeni was trying to teach him the word for 'tree’ in Russian.

“O-oh! Tree?” Sidney said, pointing at the tree. “How do you say it?”

“ _Де-ре-во_ ,” Evgeni repeated, pronouncing every syllable carefully for Sidney.

“De-re-vo?” Sidney tried.

Evgeni laughed a bit at his pronunciation, but he nodded, looking extremely proud.

“ _Молодец_ ,” he said, then stepped a bit closer.

“ _Э, как по английски_?” Evgeni shook his head and searched his head for the English words. “Eh…how…say… _дерево_ …english?”

“Tree,” Sidney anunciated slowly.

“Tree,” Evgeni repeated, his R a little too heavy.

“Good job!” Sidney said, smiling at him.

Evgeni smiled back with his whole face again. Sidney couldn’t stop himself from laughing and patting him on the shoulder. They started to walk away, but Sidney stopped and pointed back at the tree.

“Derevo?” he said, sure that his pronunciation was terrible.

“ _Дерево_ ,” Evgeni confirmed, patting him on the shoulder too. “ _Какой ты молодец_!”

Sidney didn’t know what that last part meant, but Evgeni looked so proud of him that he seemed to be beaming. They started walking back, and a sudden thought took Sidney off guard. He kind of…wanted to make Evgeni that proud again. Maybe all the time.

“Derevo,” Sidney repeated. “It’s…uh…it’s pretty.”

Evgeni stopped walking. “Pr—preety?” He repeated, looking confused, but interested.

Oh boy…Sidney didn’t know how to explain that one.

“Uhh…It’s…uhm,” he rubbed the back of his neck, trying to find the simplest way to explain it. “When…you…when you like looking at something…”

Sidney trailed off. Evgeni looked lost, but his eyes were carefully searching Sidney’s face as if the translation was somewhere hidden in Sid’s eyes. Sid felt his ears start to burn under the scrutiny. He cleared his throat and looked down.

“Uh…p-pretty. It’s like…beautiful,” he said.

“Byu…diful?”

Sid looked back up at Evgeni, who looked even more confused. He still seemed interested, though, and was leaning forward into Sidney’s space, as if listening to Sidney trying and failing to explain an English word was the most beautiful sound he’d ever heard. Sid could almost feel Evgeni’s breath against his face. He swallowed hard.

A sudden voice made them both turn around.

“Everyone had wondered where you were,” Gonchar said, walking up to them.

“H-he was, uh, teaching me the word for tree,” Sidney said quickly.

“Oh?” Gonchar smiled. “Let’s hear it!”

“Uh…derevo?” he said, trying not to be too shy about his pronunciation, but his voice came out a little quieter than he would have liked anyway.

“That’s very good, Sidney,” Gonchar said.  

“ _Эй, Сергей_ ,” Evgeni asked suddenly, “ _Как по русски.._ ” he looked at Sidney for a second like he was trying to remember something before directing his attention back to Gonchar. “B-…byu…diful?”

Gonchar squinted for a moment, then seemed to understand. “Ah, beautiful?”

Evgeni nodded. “ _Да! Как по русски_ …eh…beaudiful?”

Gonchar laughed a bit. “ _По русски, это красивый_.”

Evgeni seemed to get it and he nodded.

“ _Но, аккуратно, Женя. Скажи — Бю-ти-фул_.”

“Beau-ti…fool…beauti-ful?” Evgeni repeated haltingly.

Gonchar smiled and shook his head. “ _Молодец_.”

Evgeni smiled. “Beauti…fool—ful,” he repeated.

Gonchar nodded, then asked Evgeni a question.

“ _Не_ _пойдёте ли вы…?”_

Evgeni thought for a second. 

” _Ну, я хотел немножко ещё говорить…дай нам одну минутку, ладно?_ “

Gonchar raised a brow, but he nodded.

” _Ладно, но быстренько, хорошо?_ “ Gonchar said, tapping his watch as he started walking back towards the house. ” _Мы уедем через десять_.“

” _Хорошо_ ,“ Evgeni answered, then turned to Sidney. His speech was halting and choppy, but his eyes were excited and his face animated.

“Uh, Sidney…you…play…good hockey! Beauti-ful…hockey!” Evgeni said, pointing to Sidney and looking extremely proud of himself.

Sidney smiled at the sincerity of Evgeni’s compliment.

“Uhh…uhm… _spacibo_ ,” Sidney answered, hoping to god he had said it right.

When Evgeni smiled that wonderfully bright smile and answered, “ _Пожалуйста_ ,” Sidney relaxed.

Something about this just felt…right. Like he and Evgeni were meant to be on the same team. As they both walked back towards the house, glancing at one another once in a while, Sidney knew he could look forward to a lot of moments like that in the years to come. The thought seemed to warm him to the core.

—_/.\\_—

“ _Eh, bien…mon lacet est fuckeé…_ ” Marc André Fleury—or Flower, as the team called him—complained, tossing a piece of broken skate lace into the middle of the room.

Sidney and a couple of other people laughed at him as they shucked their wet hockey pads. It had been a particularly gruelling practice, mostly because everyone was still getting used to one another. Evgeni, for his part, had done really well that day, and only looked slightly tired.

“Ey, Sidney!”

Sidney looked up at Evgeni as he started untying his skates. Everyone else (except Gonchar) had decided to call him Geno, since they couldn’t seem to wrap their minds, much less their tongues, around a name like 'Evgeni’. It had taken Sidney some getting used to, since he’d called him Evgeni the entire time during development camp. As a compromise, he’d started calling him G.

“What’s up, G?”

“ _Как сказать_ …uhh…hahaha?” Geno said, miming like he was laughing.

“Uh, laugh,” Sidney said.

“L-laugh?” Geno repeated. “Like…ha ha ha?”

Sidney nodded encouragingly. “Yeah! Laugh.”

“Okay.” Geno nodded, looking down as he formulated a sentence in his mind. Then he looked at Sidney.

“I’m like…you…laugh.”

Sidney felt like an idiot, but…he immediately laughed. As if on cue.

“W-you what? …you like my laugh?”

Geno nodded, his smile a little crooked. “Yeah is, uh…is good laugh.”

Flower shot Sidney a look, and Max started cackling.

“Aw, Sid, he likes your crazy-ass laugh,” Colby cooed, momentarily wrapping his jersey around his head like a babushka’s scarf. “Geno’s in  _looove_ …”

Laughter filled the locker room, along with some childish chanting. Geno participated in the laughing, but he looked like he had no clue why he was doing it. Sidney laughed along, too, partly because it was polite, but mostly because it was a distraction from the fact that he’d actually appreciated Geno’s comment much more than he’d expected to.

“GENO AND SIDNEY SITTING IN A TREE…”

Sidney shook his head and went back to untying his skates. He was surrounded by overgrown children.

“Shit guys it’s REAL, tho, look how fuckin’ red he is…”

“You think  _he's_ red? Look at Sid!”

Sidney always thought that when he didn’t know how to handle the chirps, it was best to just smile and nod, laugh along, and then ignore it…but he couldn’t help adding something under his breath.

“And you fuckers call  _me_ the kid,” he muttered.

“You guys are worse than a bunch of teenage girls, I swear to god…” someone said, interrupting the chanting.

Sid glanced up at Geno, who was looking at Gonchar. Gonchar looked like he was at a loss to explain some of what had just happened, but Geno nodded along as Gonchar did his best to recount what he’d understood. Geno glanced at Sidney and immediately looked away when he made eye-contact. Sidney found himself hoping that Geno wasn’t too embarrassed. He made a mental note to thank Geno for his compliment later. But first, he needed a shower.

—_/.\\_—

-A FEW YEARS LATER-

Sidney stared out over the city as he stood on the balcony of their hotel. They’d been on a good winning streak for a while, and Sid was hoping to keep it that way. It wasn’t like their game tomorrow would make or break them, but Sidney preferred to make a full effort during every game, no matter how important it was. Maybe most people thought he felt that way because of the new C on his jersey, but he had always taken hockey very seriously. Even the pond hockey games he used to play back home.

He barely heard the knock on his door. He hadn’t been expecting it, anyway, since all those who felt like it had gone out to 'sample the nightlife’ or whatever the fuck Talbo had called it. Sid had no idea who might be at his door, so he walked over to open it, surprised by who was behind it.

“Ey, Sidney,” Geno said, smiling and walking into the room. “ _Чё как? Давай! Делаем что-нибудь! Не хочешь чай? Кофе?_ ” He raised his brows. “ _Потанцуем_?”

Sidney laughed and shook his head at his best friend. “Okay, all I understood was 'Chai’ and 'coffee’. When are you going to tell me what that means?”

Geno sighed, but he didn’t stop smiling. “ _Скоро всё поймёшь,_ Sidney.”

Sidney had gotten used to Geno speaking at him in Russian. Sidney understood a lot more than he used to, thanks to Gonch and the amount of time Sidney spent around him and Geno, but Gonchar had encouraged Geno to speak as much English as possible, which meant he would usually redirect Geno into English when they were talking in the locker room. Geno’s English had improved dramatically from this, but it didn’t stop him from slipping back into Russian when he got stuck on a word and just talking at Sid for a couple of minutes. Sidney had learned to just be quiet and give him time to process things, and then Geno would usually come around to the English words on his own. It was sort of a routine they’d fallen into, and to Sidney, it had become as familiar as the soccer circle before every game.

“Don’t want go out tonight, Sid?” Geno asked, giving him a sideways look.

“Nah, not really,” Sid replied. “I don’t really feel like it tonight.”

“ _Честно_ ,” Geno said. “But…weird.”

Sidney laughed. “I’m not a party animal like you, G.”

Geno laughed. “I’m…what? Animal?”

“A party animal,” Sid repeated. “You like to party.”

Geno nodded. “Yeah, of course, like to party! It’s good…but…” Geno trailed off.

“But?” Sid encouraged him to continue.

“Sid never go out with us,” Geno said. “Get…little bit boring when Sid not there. So…I come up here, see Sid.”

“Well, thank you. I feel…” Sidney laughed. “Am I really more interesting than that nightclub Max wanted to take you to, Geno?”

“Sid most interesting,” Geno said, smirking.

Sidney laughed a bit, trying to ignore the unreadable look on Geno’s face. He gestured to the sliding doors and he and Geno walked out onto the balcony together.

“So, uh,  _kak dela_?” Sidney asked Geno how he was doing in Russian. It was one of the only phrases he truly had down so far.

“ _Всё хорошо у меня_ ,” Geno smiled and answered that everything was good. Sid was proud that he understood that part.

“ _А у тебя_?” Geno asked him how he was.

“Um,  _khorosho_ ,” Sidney nodded, answering that he was good too.

“ _Здорово_ ,” Geno said, which Sid had figured out from context meant something like 'cool’ or 'awesome’.

They fell silent as they simply enjoyed the view of the sunset from the balcony of the hotel.

“ _Ой…какой красивый закат…_ ” Geno sighed.

“Hmm?” Sidney looked at Geno for a translation.

Geno smiled. “Uhh…It’s uh…beautiful, uhh…” he pointed down. “How you say…when sun go down?  _Как это сказать?_

“Sunset,” Sidney answered, smiling. “I agree…it’s very pretty.”

Geno looked at Sidney with some recognition in his eyes. He’d never forget the night when he’d taught Sidney the word for tree.

“Pretty! Yes. Like beautiful. Pretty sun…set?”

Sidney smiled and nodded at him. “Yeah! Pretty sunset.”

“Pretty sunset,” Geno repeated. “Beautiful sunset. Okay.”

“Uh,  _kak skazat’_ …pretty sunset  _po russkiy_?” Sidney asked Geno how to say it in Russian.

“ _Красивый закат,_ ” Geno answered.

Sidney raised his brows and smiled, obviously a little overwhelmed by the length of the phrase. Geno laughed at him.

“ _Кра-си-вый за-кат_ ,” Geno enunciated for him.

“Okay…uh… _Kra-cee-vee…za-kat_?” Sidney repeated. He could tell by Geno’s laughter that he’d butchered the pronunciation.

“Hey, at least I’m trying, okay?” Sidney said, laughing along with him.

“Is okay, Sidney, good try,” Geno said, putting a hand around his friend’s shoulders. “Don’t have to…so much try for me. We go slow.”

“It’s ok. I like the challenge,” Sidney said.

Geno looked at him fondly. Sidney smiled back at him, trying not to think about how Geno had come to feel like a home Sidney had never known but had always wanted to find. The feeling hit him like a tidal wave, but he rode it out, averting his gaze out over the city and hoping that Geno wouldn’t notice his burning ears.

“Sidney…” Geno said suddenly, his volume a little lower than normal. “ _Ты…тоже красивый_.”

Sidney looked at Geno. “I’m…wait, what?” He asked, smiling.

Geno breathed out a laugh. “Sidney, uh…Sidney pretty too.”

“What?” Sid had hoped not to blush even more, but that had obviously proved to be wishful thinking. He laughed and let his head fall. “Geno, are you—”

“Sidney,” Geno interrupted. “ _Не хочешь встречаться со мной?_ ”

Sidney shook his head and looked lost again.

“I’m…I’m sorry, Geno, but…I don't—I don’t know what that means.”

Geno shook his head too and took his arm away from Sidney’s shoulders, resting an elbow on the balcony railing and resting his head in his hand. Sid could tell, even in the fading light, that Geno’s face was flushed too. He looked like he was contemplating doing something, just like he had before the first time he had said that last phrase at Sid at the airport.

He suddenly looked up at Sidney with that same funny look in his eyes.

“Sidney,  _как сказать поцелуй_?”

Sidney looked lost again. “Uhm…uh…I don’t know that word—”

“ _Поцелуй. Поцелуй меня_ , Sidney,” Geno said. It sounded so urgent…

“I…um…I don't—” Sidney shook his head. “Can you…draw it? Or–or show me?”

“ _Show_ you?” Geno asked, standing up straight. “Show you  _поцелуй_?”

Sidney was so confused, but…it almost sounded like Geno was asking for  _permission_ to show him what he was talking about.

“Uh…yeah? Show me,” Sidney said.

Sidney froze as Geno leaned forward and placed a very soft kiss on his cheek.

“ _Вот так…_ ” Geno said quietly. “ _Это_ п _оцелуй_ _._ ”

Sidney was so shocked that he almost forgot how to breathe for a second.  


“Uh-um…” Sidney stuttered. “Uh-w-what…what was that, again?”

Geno stepped closer to Sid and placed a hand on the small of his back. Possible translations started running through Sid’s mind.

_Touch? No, he didn’t really touch me the first time…_  


Geno leaned in again, and Sidney could feel Geno’s quick breaths against his neck.  


_Breath?_  


_Close?_  


Sidney’s eyes slipped shut as he felt Geno’s lips brush against his neck. Then Geno kissed Sidney’s neck, and if Sidney had been more coherent, the little whimper he let out would have embarrassed him immensely.

“ _Вот так…_ ” Geno repeated. “ _Поцелуй._ ”

_Ohh…_

Sidney’s mind was racing. He knew he should do something…pull away, tell Geno that doing such a thing was inappropriate, but…he didn’t want to. He didn’t feel like he could move, much less formulate a sentence.

“ _Вот…так…_ ”

Sidney sucked in a breath as Geno’s lips closed over a spot on his neck again.

“Uh…” Sidney tried, letting out a shaky breath. His brain was sluggish, but by the grace of  _somebody_ up there he was finally able to string a few words together. “Uh-th…that’s…a kiss, Geno…”

“Akiss?” Geno repeated in a low voice, pulling back slightly so he could make eye-contact with Sidney.

“Yeah. Just…Kiss.” Sidney nodded, feeling a little short of breath. Thankfully Geno’s eye contact was helping him feel like he was coming back to his senses somewhat.

“Kiss…interesting…” Geno said, almost reverently. He leaned back into Sidney’s space. “ _А если я делаю…вот так вот.._.”

Geno leaned even closer and brushed his lips against Sidney’s before closing them over Sidney’s upper lip.

Sidney let out a little noise. What should he do? This was definitely unprofessional. Geno was his teammate. He wasn’t supposed to do things like this with teammates, much less the ones who wore an A. He wondered if he should pull away, but…Geno’s lips were so warm; although, they were a little chapped…Sid wanted to kiss back, but his body felt frozen…all the the sensations were almost too much for Sidney, and he suddenly realised that he couldn’t breathe.

Sidney pushed Geno back so he could catch his breath.

“That, uh…that’s a kiss…too, Geno…” he said between breaths.

“Oh…”

Geno sounded very disappointed. Sidney looked up at him.

“You don’t…” Geno started, pulling away from Sidney. “You don’t want…kiss me? Not like?”

That wasn’t the truth at all. Sidney had enjoyed it a lot, but he wasn’t sure how to react.

“No, Geno, I…” Sidney trailed off. “It was…very nice,” he whispered, face thoroughly red. “I…liked it a lot.”

“What? You like…kiss me, Sid?” Geno asked, sounding surprised. “But then why you…push me?”

Sidney looked down.

“I’m sorry, G. This is just…confusing for me…I never knew you wanted to…” he swallowed. “Kiss me.”

Geno scoffed. “I always ask you…every day…if you want…go out with me.”

Sidney stared at him. “What?”

Geno nodded. “I’m ask you first day I meet you.”

Sidney looked incredulous. “…when?”

“ _Скажи мне, точно,_ Sidney… _хочешь встречаться со мной или нет?_ ”

Sidney blinked. “What-That was…you were asking me out!?”

Geno nodded. “ _Чай? Кофе? Потанцуем?_ ”

Sidney looked at him apologetically. “You…wanted me to…go get a coffee with you?”

Geno nodded. “Or whatever,” he added.

Sidney let his shoulders droop. “And I…didn’t understand a damn thing…I’m sorry…”

“No…” Geno smiled at him and pulled him into a hug. “You don’t need…say sorry…I’m know you don’t know what I’m mean.”

Sidney took a breath and held onto Geno. It did feel good to hug him. It always did. Maybe now he understood a bit more about why.

“ _Не могу…поцеловать тебя ещё раз?_ ” Geno asked. “ _Поцелуй? Не хочешь?_ ”

Sidney pulled back and looked at Geno. He’d understood that last part, and despite all of his ideals about professionalism and what was appropriate and not appropriate, he decided he didn’t particularly care at the moment and nodded.

“ _Davai_ ,” Sidney said in a low voice.

Geno smiled with his whole face before leaning in and kissing Sidney like his life depended on it. This time, Sidney kissed him back, leaning him back against the balcony. As Sidney opened his mouth and let Geno deepen the kiss, he was suddenly glad he never took that Russian class in high school. He wouldn’t have traded the way Geno taught him Russian for anything.

КОНЕЦ

« _The end_ »


End file.
